Scott McAngus

Police have welcomed the nine-year prison sentence handed out to an ex-soldier who was convicted of child rape.

John Johnstone (50) was convicted of the offences in March and was back in Edinburgh High Court on Tuesday to receive his punishment.

The abuse took place when the victim was a young girl at addresses in the Polmont and Bo’ness areas during 1980s and up to March 1990.

Johnstone, of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, has now been sentenced to nine years in prison and registered as a sex offender.

Detective Inspector Hugh Louden of Forth Valley’s Public Protection Unit said: “Johnstone is a depraved individual who subjected a child to a prolonged period of abuse and I want to commend the woman for coming forward.

“Dedicated teams of detectives are committed to bringing perpetrators of sexual crimes before the courts, regardless of when the offences took place.

“Although nothing can undo Johnstone’s heinous actions, I hope his conviction and this sentence gives the woman some sense of justice.”

Johnstone spent his trial last month claiming he was innocent of all the charges. During the catalogue of abuse he molested the child, exposed himself and got her to carry out sex acts on him.

The 38-year-old victim told the court that during oral sex acts he had her by the hair and became more aggressive to her as time went on.

She said the abuse had begun on visits to Johnstone’s former home in Bo’ness and she recalled him standing in the doorway of his bedroom and he offered her pennies from a piggy bank for a kiss.

Johnstone was snared in 2015 when the victim had gone to a house where Johnstone was visiting and made a recording of an initial conversation with her abuser with her phone in her back pocket, which he was unaware of.

Anyone with information on sexual offences can contact Police Scotland on 101, or report them anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.